Sectors
Update: Oil Climbs to Six-Week High as US-Iran Conflict, Red Sea Threats Elevate Supply Fears
(Updates prices in the second paragraph and adds EIA data in the final parpagraph.)West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed at a six-week high Wednesday as the US continued attacks on Iran, keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed, while Yemen's Houthi militants threatened to block Saudi oil exports in the Red Sea.WTI crude for September delivery closed up $2.49, or 3%, to settle at $86.83 per barrel, the highest level since June 11, while September Brent crude was last seen up $3.22, or 3.5%, to $94.23.The gains came as the escalating conflict between the US and Iran kept the Strait of Hormuz closed. The Guardian reported that US forces launched strikes on Iran for an 11th consecutive night, targeting aircraft hangars and drone storage facilities.The conflict has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for about 20% of global oil consumption supplied by Persian Gulf nations before the war began on Feb. 28. Just 14 ships transited the waterway over the past day, according to hormuzstraitmonitor.com, leaving about 400 vessels, including 120 tankers, stranded in the Gulf.Yemen's Houthi militants added to the supply worries with a threat to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern end to the Red Sea, to restrict Saudi exports through the sea.Oil's "move reflects the ongoing US-Iran conflict, now in its 11th day, a Houthi threat to Red Sea shipping, and production shut-ins as Tropical Storm Bertha moves through the Gulf of Mexico, which pushed the Mars crude premium to around $2 a barrel over WTI, its strongest since early June", Saxo Bank noted.In its weekly survey, the Energy Information Administration said US commercial oil inventories rose by 2.0-million barrels last week, while analysts polled by Reuters expected a 1.1-million barrel drop.
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